4 ms·

> The 'financial-math-numbers-wizard' is absolutely the very rare exception One of the points in the article is exactly the opposite of this observation...that

> The 'financial-math-numbers-wizard' is absolutely the very rare exception One of the points in the article is exactly the opposite of this observation...that ASD is far more common than most people believe it to be. The difference is that the vast majority of those with autism can pass and silently struggle with the negatives of their condition. Your SO deals with those who can't pass and have the more pronounced form of the condition. There's a selection bias by the simple fact that they end up in her class that creates that 10::1 you describe even though the 1 will be much more common in the overall population. I can see that pushing the savant angle of the condition can be counterproductive, especially to those whose form of ASD often prevents them from being functional. But so is the "it's rare" narrative that leads people who can pass to struggle with not understanding themselves. As the article points out, nearly 2% of people have some form of ASD. For that to be the case, the vast majority of them have to appear mostly normal from the outside.

rbavocadotree 7y ago
> vast majority of those with autism can pass and silently struggle with the negatives of their condition This is not true. The article says only 16% can hold a fulltime job. Most of those are jobs requiring the absolute minimal skillsets. > As the article points out, nearly 2% of people have some form of ASD. For that to be the case, the vast majority of them have to appear mostly normal from the outside. It may sadden you to know the staggering amount of adults with ASD that have essentially been removed from society. They do not appear normal, and as a consequence they do not appear in society at all.
- curun1r 7y ago
  > The article says only 16% can hold a fulltime job That’s 16% of those diagnosed with ASD. For one, the vast majority of the current workforce came of age before the DSM reclassified autism as a spectrum disorder. So many of those with milder symptoms who sought out therapy as kids could easily go undiagnosed. I know this personally as someone diagnosed as an adult who grew up as a child of a psychologist and was sent to multiple therapists. I’m perfectly capable of maintaining a career and wouldn’t have even thought to seek out a diagnosis as an adult had I not had a conversation with my mom about the reclassification. Having worked in tech, I can tell you there’s a huge group of undiagnosed ASD workers like me who are quite able to hold down a job and excel but still exhibit milder symptoms of the disorder.

rbavocadotree 7y ago

> vast majority of those with autism can pass and silently struggle with the negatives of their condition This is not true. The article says only 16% can hold a fulltime job. Most of those are jobs requiring the absolute minimal skillsets. > As the article points out, nearly 2% of people have some form of ASD. For that to be the case, the vast majority of them have to appear mostly normal from the outside. It may sadden you to know the staggering amount of adults with ASD that have essentially been removed from society. They do not appear normal, and as a consequence they do not appear in society at all.

curun1r 7y ago
> The article says only 16% can hold a fulltime job That’s 16% of those diagnosed with ASD. For one, the vast majority of the current workforce came of age before the DSM reclassified autism as a spectrum disorder. So many of those with milder symptoms who sought out therapy as kids could easily go undiagnosed. I know this personally as someone diagnosed as an adult who grew up as a child of a psychologist and was sent to multiple therapists. I’m perfectly capable of maintaining a career and wouldn’t have even thought to seek out a diagnosis as an adult had I not had a conversation with my mom about the reclassification. Having worked in tech, I can tell you there’s a huge group of undiagnosed ASD workers like me who are quite able to hold down a job and excel but still exhibit milder symptoms of the disorder.